Reform minded vs.industry minded

True believers in farm bill reform haven't given up the fight yet, even if they feel like their erstwhile specialty crop allies have left them high and dry. Below is a release about a new ad campaign from from Oxfam, with the Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Environmental Working Group on board as well, among others. Demian Moore of the Taxpayers for Common Sense said the reform-minded groups may back legislation that could be offered on the Senate floor from Sens. Lugar and Lautenberg to replace Title I commodity programs with a reformed crop insurance formula. I had a chance to visit with Robert Guenther of United today and he said the association and the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance made the right political choice in staying within the confines the House Agriculture Committee.
"We will continue to work with the Senate Agriculture Committee process and see how that works out, and if we are not satisfied with how the committee moves forward, then we may have to take our fight to the Senate floor," he said. "It's a very similar scenario to the House." Guenther was unapologetic that United and the specialty crop alliance worked within the committee process to secure mandatory funding for speciality crop alliance priorites in the House farm bill. "We had to look at it from the standpoint of what is gong to be in the best interest of the industry and what is going to be in the best interest of making sure we have mandatory funding to help the infrastructure of this industry." As an aside, Guenther noted he wasn't given an opportunity by the reporter to respond to the "cheap date" remark by Ken Cook in The New York Times article about farm bill politics.

From the news release:

A diverse group of taxpayer watchdogs, environmental and social justice organizations and faith groups joined to launch a major ad campaign today calling on Congress to stop putting millionaire farmers ahead of America’s family farms in the 2007 Farm Bill. The television and print ad campaign includes an aggressive $225,000 media buy in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Washington, DC.
The hard--hitting ads set up a direct contrast between the millionaire farmers that benefit most from the Farm Bill, versus small family farmers who are left out in the cold.
“The ball is clearly in the Senate’s court now and they need make the Farm Bill fair,” said Liam Brody, Farm Bill Campaign Director at Oxfam America, which paid for the campaign. “Our campaign asks Senators to stop handouts to millionaires who need it least, and instead help family farms that need it most.”
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which also endorsed the ad campaign, 67% of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in United States. Among subsidy recipients, 10% collected 73% of all subsidies, amounting to $120.5 billion over 11 years.
"The billions of dollars in payments to profitable big farm operations leave only table scraps for small family farmers. Partly financed by federal subsidies, these large operations now have the capitol to outbid smaller farmers for land,” said Ken Cook, President of EWG. “Large farms grow larger, and rural America dries up in the process. Is this government subsidized consolidation in the agriculture sector in the best interest of American taxpayers?"
The first wave of the ad campaign was launched with TV buys in New Hampshire and Minnesota today and print ads in several Washington, DC publications, including The Hill and Congress Daily last week. In both Minnesota and New Hampshire, the Farm Bill is becoming a hot-button political issue, with decisions made by voters having national implications in Senate and Presidential elections.
This farm bill stinks of rotten programs and taxpayer waste," said Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "We have joined in this effort to make sure Senators know that they need to clean up farm programs, making them market oriented, less costly and trade compliant."
The campaign was endorsed by Oxfam America, Church World Service, Citizens Against Government Waste, Environmental Working Group, Land Stewardship Project, Progressive National Baptist Convention, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, NETWORK, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and Taxpayers for Common Sense.